Welcome to the 2nd Annual Southern Cannabis Reform Conference in Atlanta
My name is Sharon Ravert and I am the executive director of Peachtree NORML.
We are so proud to bring you here for this day of education and inspiration.
This day wouldn’t be possible without the hard work and faith of our volunteer activists.
[OPTIONALLY ADD THANK-YOU’S TO VARIOUS FOLKS HERE – KEEP IT SHORT, READ THE CROWD]
This has been an amazing year for marijuana reform in the South and especially in Georgia.
Now, I know that we could be disappointed about our first ever medical marijuana bill.
It was shot down in literally the eleventh hour of the last day of the session.
It was a bill that only legalized cannabidiol, or CBD.
We know that’s not the whole plant cannabis medicine that patients really need, but that’s not the point.
The point is this: We got the Georgia legislature to nearly unanimously agree that some form of marijuana has medical value!
[PAUSE TO LET THAT SINK IN… ONE… TWO… THREE… FOUR… FIVE… let them applaud and hoot…]
It’s not whole plant medical marijuana yet… but now they’re talking about that with us.
And when we’re talking about it, we’re winning!
Remember, some of you, when we were rallying on the steps of the capitol, just a few years ago?
Remember some of those legislators, some of those security people, who were pointing at us, laughing at us?
Now those security people greet us by name as we go to meet those senators and representatives to talk about our issue.
And when we’re talking about it, we’re winning!
Remember just a few years ago when they said we were crazy to even bring up legalization in a place like Georgia?
Now we’re talking to legislators who understand how prohibition is endangering our kids and breaking up our families.
We have elected officials who are beginning to talk with us about decriminalizing marijuana.
[Slowly this time…]
And when we’re talking about it…
[maybe they say it with you]
…we’re winning!
[LET THERE BE AN APPLAUSE BREAK HERE – SWITCHING GEARS…]
Let me tell you about how we’ve already won.
This session, the Georgia Legislature passed a bill called a 911 Good Samaritan Law.
_______ ________ with SSDP did a heroic job getting this bill through the statehouse.
This law means that when somebody witnesses an overdose, whether it is from alcohol or drugs, legal or illegal, underage or not, that person can call 911 to get emergency help and won’t be punished for the possession or underage use of the alcohol or drugs.
We talked about it and we convinced our legislators it would save lives and we won.
And we can win not just medical marijuana, we can win not just decriminalization, we can win the legalization of marijuana for adults in the state of Georgia!
[SHOULD BE A NICE HOOT AND HOLLER BREAK HERE]
Georgia’s legislature may not be to legalization yet, but that train’s a comin’.
More and more in Georgia are beginning to realize that marijuana prohibition is a failed policy we can’t afford.
Rich or poor, old or young, white or black, male or female, anybody who really wants to smoke or grow or buy or sell marijuana can.
But more and more people in Georgia can see that it’s mostly poor, mostly young, mostly black, and mostly males who get busted for marijuana.
[Let these next ones sting with pauses…]
Young lives shattered. Our kids. Not “their” kids. Not “bad” kids. Our kids.
Good people branded as criminals for no good reason.
Good families losing their father or big brother or son to jail time.
Good communities fed into a cycle of cops and courts and jails and rehabs and probation officers and drug test labs who could all be working to solve real crimes and treat serious addictions.
The people of Georgia are waking up and we’re not going to take this kind of cruelty.
We’re not going to take this kind of government waste.
We’re not fools and we know that marijuana and the people who use it are never going away.
Cannabis has been used by people as food, fuel, fiber, medicine, and fun for over nine thousand years
Obviously there aren’t enough police in the world to wipe out a weed.
If there were, I’d lobby for a law to make crabgrass illegal and then watch the sheriffs come pull it out of my lawn.
[TAKE A DRINK OF WATER HERE, LET THE LAUGH HAPPEN…. I hope]
Now, I wish that the world was a perfect place where simply recognizing these facts would change things.
I wish the folks in the gold dome would just help us legalize marijuana because it is the right thing to do.
But have you ever heard the saying “money makes the world go round?”
How about “money talks and…” well, you know what walks.
Just this week we were at a meet and greet with some of the movers and shakers in Republican politics.
We were talking to one fellow who couldn’t stop talking about the tax money Colorado made in just one month of legal marijuana sales.
He said, “That’s your ticket with most of these guys. You’ve got to emphasize the economics of this thing.”
We don’t care what reason they need to talk about marijuana legalization, just so long as they’re talking about it…
[BRING IT ON HOME… give them the look to respond…]
Because if we’re talking about it… we’re winning!
If we’re talking about it… we’re winning!
If we’re talking about it… we’re winning!
Thank you all so very much for supporting the 2nd Annual Southern Cannabis Reform Conference!
We’ve got some amazing speakers and panels who will be talking about IT all day. Take what you learn and talk about it with your friends and family and co-workers.
Talk about it on social networks, too – our hashtag today is SoCanCon for Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram.
Thank you again and have a great day!
